Tributes to Professor Howard Marshall
Many in the globe of NT scholarship were saddened to hear of the death of I Howard Marshall (1934–2015) last Saturday after a short illness. Howard was professor emeritus of New Attestation exegesis and honorary research professor at the University of Aberdeen, and he was widely recognized as i of the leaders of the second generation of evangelical New Testament scholars. I wrote the following reflection for Evangelical Alliance.
I have always struggled a bit to make sense of those who pit assertive faith against academic integrity. Quite often information technology is expressed by those who have escaped from an 'unthinking' evangelicalism or fundamentalism, who at present 'realise' that life is non as straightforward as they were told, so now comprehend a more than 'open' position. But it is also expressed by those who desire to concord on to a 'elementary' faith, and retrieve that request questions is dangerous and unnecessary.
I have struggled with both these kinds of separation between thinking and believing, since I accept never felt the need either to protect my religion from questions, nor to carelessness what I believe because it is unreasonable. And this in turn arises from the debt I owe to the fantabulous teachers who have formed my faith and thinking, prominent among them Howard Marshall.
I bought his I Believe in the Historical Jesus when I was a teenager, and it modelled for me the kind of careful, thorough, responsible and believing scholarship which was the hallmark of all Howard's work. When I came to report theology myself, his writing on the New Attestation and the kingdom of God was an invaluable touchstone. And his NIGTC commentary on Luke was at start a significant challenge, every bit I was inducted into the disciplines of responsible study, but and then a treasure trove of exploration and insight, showing how stiff could exist this kind of careful attention to the item of the text. In its articulate date with scholarship, mostly of different views, it epitomised the idea of reasonable faith in exegesis. For many years I consulted it even when preaching on parallel passages in the other synoptics, such was its conscientious attending to questions of redaction.
When I came to meet Howard in person, through the British New Testament Conference and the Tyndale Fellowship, I realised that all this was not simply a question of professional person conviction, but of personal commitment. His instance of personal warmth and continued involvement in church ministry were integral to this.
Along with Dick France, Tom Wright and Stephen Travis, Howard was part of a generation who led a renaissance in serious evangelical scholarship in Britain, which has transformed the field of New Attestation study and contributed to renewal in the Church. For that, I am profoundly grateful to God.
Mark Goodacre comments:
I was lucky to get to know him a little afterward his retirement because he was a regular at the British New Testament Briefing. He had been president of the club, and his name was on the bank account. He always showed great sense of humour when I asked him to sign all our cheques. He said that he enjoyed spending other people'southward money.
Prof. Marshall was ever encouraging and gracious to younger scholars. I call up in particular his kindness in providing feedback on a paper I gave on the first beatitude, which after became Chapter vii ofThe Example Against Q. He was not at all convinced! Like virtually evangelicals of the day, including his teacher F. F. Bruce, he was wedded to Q. I have often consulted his commentary on Luke, which may exist his finest and most important book.
Michael Bird observes:
Just yesterday I was reading his volumeOrigins of Christologyand it reminded me of the stature of his work and even his boldness in going confronting (at the time) the scholarly grain.
Howard's influence is not simply through his many writings, but also through the 30-forty PhD students he supervised, people like Craig Blomberg, Ray Van Neste, Gary Burge, Joel Green, and Darrell Bock! So many fine evangelicals scholars were made into capable researchers at the stables of Aberdeen thank you to Howard. No wonder he was the recipient of two festschrifts….
And he identifies an important influence that is often missed:
A trivial known fact about Howard is that he is one of the root causes of Open Theism! Clark Pinnock read Howard'southwardKept by the Power of God, which fabricated him drib the "P" from "TULIP" which had a domino effect that drove Clark Pinnock to embrace Third Wave Charismatic Renewal and eventually Open Theism. Then for Open up Theism, blame Howard for getting the brawl rolling on that one!
Stanley Porter sums up his importance for evangelical scholarship:
Professor Marshall represents, I believe, the kind of evangelical scholar that many of us promise to emulate just usually fall far brusk of achieving. By this I mean that he was articulate in his fundamental convictions, devoted to the text as God's word, and non concerned to fulfill the agenda of others. I, and evangelicalism equally a whole, will greatly miss Professor Marshall.
Yous can also read tributes from Darrell Bock on the Gospel Coalition website, from Peter Williams, Craig Blomberg and Andrew Clarke at Tyndale, and quotations from several more than at the Eerdmans weblog.
Howard also contributed to the Grove Biblical serial, reviewing scholarship on Jesus at the turn of the millennium.
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